Australian police special operation probes increased antisemitic attacks
String of incidents, including the torching of a synagogue in Melbourne, prompt authorities to launch dedicated investigation into assaults on Jews
Australian federal police launched a special operation to investigate an increase in antisemitic threats and violence since the war between Israel and Hamas began last year.
Jewish leaders say prejudice against their community has reached unprecedented levels, with most incidents reported in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s largest cities, where 85 percent of the nation’s Jewish population live.
Almost 117,000 Jewish people live in Australia, according to the last census in 2021, or 0.46% of the 25.4 million residents. The government says only Israel is home to more Holocaust survivors than Australia on a per capita basis.
A report last week from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) found that Australian Jews experienced more than 2,000 anti-Jewish incidents over the past year, more than quadruple the number from the previous year.
A total of 2,062 incidents were recorded between October 2023 and September 2024, far more than the 495 incidents noted a year earlier. The total did not include antisemitic statements made on social media.
Here’s a look at some of the main cases investigated by Special Operation Avalite:
December 11: Antisemitic graffiti attacks in the eastern Sydney suburb of Woollahra
Police are looking for two male suspects, estimated to be aged between 15 and 20, seen running from Magney St. in Woollahra when a car fire was reported at 1 a.m.
Two cars including the one that burned had been graffitied. Two homes and the sidewalk had also been spray-painted with what police described as “antisemitic writing” that included an apparently misspelled “Kill Israiel.”
Woollahra is a center of Jewish life in Sydney and one of the wealthiest suburbs in the nation.
Not everyone who lives in Magney St. is Jewish and police say there is no evidence that Jewish residents were specifically targeted.
December 6: Arson attack on Adass Israel Synagogue in a southeastern Melbourne suburb
The December 6 attack has been declared a terrorist act after authorities concluded there was a political motive. Police are searching for three suspects.
Two worshipers saw two men with their faces covered spreading a liquid accelerant around the building before it ignited.
Police have not said what role the third person played or whether they knew the suspects’ identities.
November 21: Antisemitic acts in Wellington Street, Woollahra
Police arrested two suspects who allegedly launched an hour-long rampage of anti-Israel destruction in a different part of Woollahra.
Police were alerted to a car fire in Wellington St. around 12:30 a.m. Two men with their faces covered were seen in CCTV spray-painting expletives and slogans referring to Israel on 10 cars in the vicinity of Wellington St., including the car that was burned.
They also graffitied three buildings including a restaurant owned by celebrity chef Matt Moran, who is not Jewish.
Mohammed Farhat, 20, was arrested on November 25 at Sydney International Airport as he prepared to fly to Indonesia. His alleged accomplice Thomas Stojanovski, 19, was arrested at his home on November 28.
Both remain in custody awaiting trial on multiple charges. They each face prison sentences of up to 10 years.
June 19: Jewish lawmaker’s office in a Melbourne suburb vandalized
At least five people were seen near Josh Burns’ office in Barkly St. at about 3:20 a.m. when the attack occurred, police said.
They smashed windows and graffitied the outside of his office in red paint with the slogan: “Zionism is fascism.”
A furious Anthony Albanese has declared the vandals who smashed up the office of a Jewish Labor MP and plastered it with a "Zionism is fascism" slogan "should face the full force of the law" as he condemned the "serious" and "distressing" attack.https://t.co/XWbv8lZi5c
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) June 19, 2024
Investigators said small fires were lit in the telecommunications pits at the front of the building before the group ran from the scene.
Burns, a government lawmaker, said at the time that “no amount of aggression” would “change what’s happening in the Middle East.”
Antisemitic incidents have surged in Jewish communities around the world since October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists in Gaza launched a war on Israel, infiltrating towns, killing some 1,200 people, and taking 251 hostages in a shocking assault.
Many countries are now facing anti-Jewish activity — fueled by virulent criticism of Israeli policies and amplified by incitement on social media — at levels not seen since the Holocaust, with antisemitic incidents up by 100% to 300% or more in many countries, according to surveys.
